Bay Area gets breather as siege of smoke clears — for now
The Bay Area breathed easier Wednesday as air quality improved drastically, an enduring haze gave way to blue skies and the colorcoded air quality map displayed a sea of green — signifying good air quality.
Instead of waking to the smell of smoke, as they had for the past week, people were greeted by fresh air, damp pavement and traces of what seemed like rain. Clean air is likely to stick around for at least a couple of days, but the moisture from the skies wasn’t rain; it was heavy mist or drizzle from the thick marine layer that developed overnight.
The disappearance of most of the wildfire smoke that hovered over the Bay Area for nearly a month, turning the skies orange a week ago and choking the Bay Area with air considered very unhealthy, means the end of 30 days of Spare the Air alerts — a record that more than doubles the previous record of 14 days during the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise.
“It’s crazy,” said Kristina Chu, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “With the orange skies and Spare the Air alerts, it’s been a crazy month.”
While the Spare the Air alert will be lifted at the end of Wednesday, the air district will issue a smoke advisory for Thursday and Friday to let people know that wildfires continue to spew smoke into the skies around the state as well as Washington and
Oregon. Bay Area residents may occasionally catch a whiff of smoke, and conditions could at times make it tougher to breathe for people with sensitivities.
The air district’s forecast calls good air quality on Thursday, then moderate quality on Friday. The forecast tentatively calls for moderate air quality to continue through Monday, but Chu said an incoming lowpressure front could cause winds to shift over the weekend and push more smoke into the Bay Area from Oregon and Northern California fires.
“It’s too far out for our meteorologists to tell for sure but we could get more smoke,” she said. “I would definitely recommend that if people want to get outside or take their kids outside and enjoy some fresher air because we’ve been stuck inside for a month, do it Thursday or Friday.”
As for rain, none fell Wednesday, according to meteorologists, and there’s none in the forecast for the Bay Area, though the cold front could bring some precipitation to the far northern reaches of the state, according to National Weather Service forecasts.
Many Bay Area residents noticed damp pavement and lawns Wednesday morning, according to reports on social media. The moisture that dripped from the skies was condensation — or drizzle — from the thick marine layer mostly close to the coast, according to the National Weather Service. A few spots reported up to 0.01 inch of precipitation, including in Marin County, along the Peninsula and in Oakland. Thick fog and low visibility made for difficult driving conditions in coastal areas.
Bay Area temperatures were expected to be around normal for this time of year with highs in upper 60s to mid70s and around 80 in inland hot spots.
“It should be pretty Septemberlike,” said Brayden Murdock, a National Weather Service meteorologist. And at least for now, that’s a chance to breathe easy.